TMCnet News
Violence mars Nepal general strike on 2nd day+(Japan Economic Newswire Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)KATHMANDU, April 7_(Kyodo) _ Protesters smashed vehicles, burned tires and clashed with police on the second day, Friday, of a four-day general strike called by Nepalese political parties in Nepal. Rallies and demonstrations against King Gyanendra's regime also took place in several places across the country, reports reaching the capital city in the evening said. Dozens of demonstrators and policemen were injured in clashes across the country, the reports said. Two students were hurt when police opened fire at protestors in Patan and Kirtipur, cities adjoining capital Kathmandu. Protesters smashed four taxi cabs, three private vehicles and a trolley bus in the capital, while a passenger bus was smashed for running in defiance of the strike order in the western resort town Pokhara. Students fought pitched battles with baton-wielding and tear gas-firing police at Tribhuvan University in Kathmandu, and scores of policemen and students were injured, according to witnesses. In the ancient town of Bhaktapur, protesters broke into a government revenue building and vandalized papers and documents, police said. In Biratnagar in eastern Nepal, protesters smashed the vehicle of an ex-police official and burned tires at road intersections. Hundreds of arrests were made across the country, protest organizers said. In Kathmandu, Home Minister Kamal Thapa said the parties' peaceful protests had in fact turned violent, and the parties were provoking the government to use excessive force. But, he said, the government was keeping its calm and maintaining vigil, and would resort to all means within its might to maintain law and order. |